This third, eight-week unit of seventh grade delves more deeply into character analysis, focusing on determined and courageous people in both informational texts and literature.
Students read, study, and discuss Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Students choose another biography, such as The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins, or a fictional work to explore how courage is projected through these works. Students see how and where these stories fit within informational texts on World War II. They also compare the ways in which Frank’s diary is similar to and different from the play version her story. Students focus their reading on in-depth analyses of interactions among individuals, events, and ideas in a variety of texts, comparing the ways in which different authors shape similar stories. This unit ends with an informative/explanatory essay in response to the essential question. Note: This unit provides an example of how cross-curricular collaboration can naturally occur between English and other classes. Students can read informational text in history class and scientific texts in science class, and then compare those accounts to personal narratives and accounts about life during World War II read in English class. Much discussion can center upon the way background information enhances understanding of literature (for example, whether on World War II, the Nazis, or any other history or science topic of the teacher’s choosing). This unit also demonstrates how the reading and writing standards provide instructional connectivity between learning in English and other areas.
Essential Question: How can reading about the courage of real people inform our understanding of determined literary characters?
This third, eight-week unit of seventh grade delves more deeply into character analysis, focusing on determined and courageous people in both informational texts and literature.
Students read, study, and discuss Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Students choose another biography, such as The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins, or a fictional work to explore how courage is projected through these works. Students see how and where these stories fit within informational texts on World War II. They also compare the ways in which Frank’s diary is similar to and different from the play version her story. Students focus their reading on in-depth analyses of interactions among individuals, events, and ideas in a variety of texts, comparing the ways in which different authors shape similar stories. This unit ends with an informative/explanatory essay in response to the essential question.
Note: This unit provides an example of how cross-curricular collaboration can naturally occur between English and other classes. Students can read informational text in history class and scientific texts in science class, and then compare those accounts to personal narratives and accounts about life during World War II read in English class. Much discussion can center upon the way background information enhances understanding of literature (for example, whether on World War II, the Nazis, or any other history or science topic of the teacher’s choosing). This unit also demonstrates how the reading and writing standards provide instructional connectivity between learning in English and other areas.
Essential Question:
How can reading about the courage of real people inform our understanding of determined literary characters?
Language
Arts
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
7 Matrix
Accelerated 7
Matrix
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Home K-2
Home 3-6
Home 6-8
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Unit 6